If your kid asked if he could watch TV or play on the iPad for an hour, which would you let him do? Naturally, it depends on what your child is doing on the iPad, but does your instinct prompt you to answer any particular way? That question gets asked of me all the time by my son and my first thought is always the TV.

Yes, I know there are tons of amazing educational apps out there. I’m not against iPad usage for kids by any means, but with my own, I tend to take a slightly different stance. It has really only been in the past year that the iPad has become such a treasured pastime for my son, thanks to his discovery of the FIFA Soccer and Madden Football apps. If left to his own devices, he would likely tap and swipe for four hours straight without breaking to eat, use the bathroom or straighten the inevitable c-curve his back would form into.

While there’s no time to play on the iPad during the week, we started getting lax with monitoring his usage on weekends, sometimes coming downstairs to find him sitting in the exact same place (and exact same position), without us realizing how much time had elapsed. Whenever I would mention how entrenched he’d be in his iPad, he’d respond with something like, “I watch movies and those are two hours. At least with the iPad, I’m doing something and not just sitting there.” Valid point.

So why raise the hackles about iPad usage? It’s true, I’m fine hunkering down with the kids on a rainy Sunday and watching one, maybe even two, movies with them. The iPad is much more interactive than TV is, more engaging and depending on what app the child is using, encourages them to think and act. Last year, when I had the pleasure of interviewing famed celebrity pediatrician Harvey Karp of The Happiest Baby on the Block franchise, I was struck by his advice that if kids are going to enjoy media, he would prefer they do so interactively (with an iPad screen) as opposed to passively (with a TV screen).

That gives me pause for thought. If both Dr. Karp and my son, both very smart people, offer the same philosophy on iPad usage, then why do I still cringe every time my son asks to use it?

As a parent of a coming-of-digital-age kid, it’s what the iPad represents — a glimpse into his future online.

My son can’t access the Internet on the TV. Sure, he can stumble across an inappropriate commercial, but no stranger is going to reach out and try to talk to him on TV. He won’t be a victim of cyberbullying or “friend” someone he doesn’t know on the TV. I’m jumping way ahead of myself, I know, but that’s what years of tech writing and consulting for an IT security company will do. Perhaps I just know too much. I fear the time when he’s texting freely, and Facebooking with friends I don’t know and doing whatever new “big thing” will be around in five years.

To me, the iPad is the first step in his digital independence and the thought of him being on his own in the depths of the Internet frightens me to my very core. It’s not that I don’t trust him, it’s the wackos out there I worry about. I am fully intent on raising a responsible and aware digital citizen, but seeing how much he loves the iPad now makes me conjure up an image of a teenager who can’t pry himself away from his online video game battles or who wants to check his smartphone under the dinner table. I want my kid to live in the real world, a world with 3D people and objects, not just ones hidden behind a glass screen.

Parents of generation tech have had to learn a whole new way to raise these highly digital kids. Babies and toddlers can find apps on their parents’ iPads with just a few taps and intuitively know what they’re doing on those screens. As parents, we can monitor and guide them as they evolve to being citizens of the Web, and it is the hope that this guidance from a very early age will set the stage for them making responsible decisions, both online and off.

As I slowly approach the next phase of his digital life when I get asked, “Can I have a Facebook account?” or “When I can have a cell phone?” I’ll take heart in knowing that these are the years when iPad usage to him just means wanting to win the football game or looking through my camera roll or taking funny pictures of himself. And maybe, after making this realization, I’ll just take a deep breath and hand it over.

What are your thoughts on kids’ usage of the different types of screens in your house? Let us know in the comments below.

This post is part of a series on the dilemmas of raising digital kids. We'd like to hear some of the parenting issues technology has raised for you. Please let us know in the comments, or on our Mashable Lifestyle Facebook page. You can also follow and tweet us @mashlifestyle.

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